


Beyond This Moment

by ThatKanraGirl



Series: Tell Me You Love Me [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Drabble, IgNoct, M/M, More angst, Ten Years Later, World of Ruin, sad noctis is sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-04 04:00:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12161103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatKanraGirl/pseuds/ThatKanraGirl
Summary: Before the crystal, they had falsely held onto the hope that Ignis's sight would return, even just a little. They knew it wouldn't. Still, Noctis had hoped that after ten years, some progress would have been made, or at least he would have been able to find the words to apologize properly.





	Beyond This Moment

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my Tumblr as part of my First Sentence Drabble requests. Just porting it over here as well.
> 
> And a high five to me for being old and using the old Song Title as a Fic Title trope.

“It’s my fault. I should’ve been there for you.”

The words were hard for Ignis to hear, and even harder to feel against his lips as Noctis trembled. For ten years, he had imagined what meeting His Majesty again would be like. Different outcomes, scenarios, all with varying degrees of tears and desperation, happiness and kisses had played over and over in his mind’s cinema. This particular scene had come on plenty of times. He knew the lines well, nearly had them memorized with only slight details having shifted about.

Now, in the face of the king, his charge, and his lover, he had forgotten them all. Nothing had prepared him for the very real tears that dripped from Noctis’s eyes and landed on his hands as he cradled his face. For as many hours of the 87,600 that had passed since he had been with him last, Ignis couldn’t handle the weight of the reality. Shaky hands cupped cheeks that were no longer filled with lingering baby fat, and were instead coated in rough stubble. It was with a heavy heart that Ignis also noted that Noctis’s face seemed longer too, as though he hadn’t smiled in a decade. He wiped the tears that fell from the king’s eyes.

“You did everything right, Noct. What happened to me…was all part of the plan.” Ignis knew it was of little consolation even before he felt the rush of hotter tears stream over the curve of his thumbs and smear against his palms, but it was all he could offer. Not once had he blamed Noctis for what happened that day, and it wasn’t likely that the day would ever come that he would, but ten years was a long time to hold onto guilt.

“I know,” Noctis said through his teeth, hissing as he suppressed a sob. “I spent ten years accepting that everything has happened the way it has for a reason, but I still…” he trailed off, and Ignis felt his heart sink. Of course, he knew the prophecy, what it would entail, what his fate would be.

It was more than either of them could take, but Ignis refused to let Noctis see him cry, not because he was too prideful. On the contrary, he took pride in knowing that if he needed to, Noctis wouldn’t think any less of him. Rather, he refused to show weakness when he knew that, if Noctis asked, he would run away forever with him. Ignis had to remain firm, not only for the sake of his king and himself, but for the rest of the world that needed him.

Instead, Ignis dried Noctis’s tears, allowed him to let go of the burden that had been plaguing him for a decade. Only when Noctis’s shoulder stopped shaking and his tears subsided did he touch his face more. He felt the age, how his eyes sagged with the weight of the world, how his hair fell differently around his face. There were still some similarities – he could still tell his Noctis from anyone else without a shadow of a doubt – but there was no questioning that time had changed him. No longer was Noctis the prince without a care, whose smiles were a dime a dozen to those who were privileged enough to see the real him. A king with the burden of darkness took his place, filled with unspoken fear and an acceptance that drained all light from his handsome face.

“Tell me you love me,” Noctis whispered, and Ignis could feel the apprehension in his words, tentative and soft. Their embrace was tight, maybe too tight for having to leave so soon. His breathing was deep and slightly uneven. Their legs were wound together, bare and covered only by an old sheet. It was far from perfect, but their last night would be the best they could make it. Ignis kissed his forehead, and then his lips, tasting his king and selfishly getting lost in each brush of their tongues, no matter how gentle.

“I will always love you, Noct.”

He would never see Noctis’s face again, that much was true, but he would always remember seeing the smallest bit of light when Noctis smiled that night, and it was all for him.


End file.
